Zürcher Nachrichten - Trump faces MAGA meltdown over Epstein reversal

Trump's Justice Department and the FBI said in memo made public Sunday there is no evidence that the disgraced financier kept a "client list" or was blackmailing powerful figures.

They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his death by suicide, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.

It marked the first time Trump's officials had publicly scotched the stories -- pushed by numerous right-wing figures, notably including the FBI's top two officials, before Trump hired them.

The backlash was swift and brutal from his "Make America Great Again" movement -- who have long held as an article of faith that "Deep State" elites were protecting Epstein's most powerful associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.

"Next the DOJ will say 'Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,'" furious pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tweeted. "This is over the top sickening."

Trump has managed to avoid much of the direct blame over the fiasco, with ire instead being directed at FBI director Kash Patel, his deputy Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bongino and Patel spent years pushing conspiracy theories around the so-called "Epstein list."

The controversy has clearly rattled Trump, who defended Bongino and Patel on social media as the "greatest law enforcement professionals in the world," without explaining why he had spoken out.

Bongino reposted Trump's praise and was deluged with furious responses.

But the lion's share of the fury has been reserved for Bondi, who assured Fox News in February she had the Epstein client list on her desk and would get to the truth -- in remarks endorsed by the White House.

Bondi was already on thin ice with MAGA after distributing binders labeled "The Epstein Files" to influencers at the White House that turned out to contain largely already public information and no new revelations.

- 'Embarrassment' -

"President Trump should fire (Bondi) for lying to his base and creating a liability for his administration," far right influencer Laura Loomer posted on X.

"She is an embarrassment and she doesn't do anything to help Trump."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed about the controversy and said that Bondi was actually talking about Epstein-related paperwork as a whole -- sparking even more MAGA fury.

"This is what happens when the dog catches the car. Or, to put a finer point on it, when you and the people around you become the very 'Deep State' you have spent years attacking," CNN analyst Chris Cillizza wrote on his Substack newsletter.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking.

Trump -- who has denied visiting the US Virgin Islands home where prosecutors say Epstein sex trafficked underage girls -- said ahead of his election he would have "no problem" releasing files related to the case.

It is one of a number of schisms that have opened in the MAGA movement in recent days, with supporters angry over Trump's announcement that weapons supply to Ukraine would resume.

Trump's fiercely isolationist base was already upset at the president's bombing of Iran nuclear sites and his statements calling for an easing of immigration raids on farms.

Beyond its insights into the power dynamics that animate Trump's supporters, the affair has raised concerns that MAGA disillusionment will damage Republican prospects in the next election cycle.

The row comes with Trump under pressure from the launch of a new political party by his estranged former close aide Elon Musk, who had a bitter public split with the president over federal spending.

When the Trump-Musk feud blew up last month, Musk alleged that Trump was named in the Epstein files.

"What's the time?" the world's richest man posted on his social media platform X on Monday, alongside an image of an Epstein countdown clock.

"Oh look, it's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again!"

A.Senn--NZN